DENBOLD, William, of Okehampton, Devon.

William Denbold’s identification, like that of many other Members of the Parliament of 1447, presents some problems, as there were ostensibly several men of this name active in the region at the time. The most promising candidate would seem to be an Okehampton gentleman of this name, probably a kinsman of Henry Denbold* who represented Tavistock in four Parliaments between 1433 and 1449. This man may have been a minor lawyer, as in the autumn of 1448 he stood bail in the court of King’s bench for the Exeter gentleman William Tremayne, accused of murdering a servant, KB27/746, rex rot. 2d. while on other occasions he served his neighbours as a feoffee. C1/58/381; CIPM Hen. VII, ii. 699. The Okehampton man may have been distinct from the Launceston yeoman of this name, who in 1461 was charged with an infringement of the abbot of Tavistock’s property at Werrington. CP40/802, rots. 45d, 322; CPR, 1476-85, p. 359. It was certainly a younger namesake who served as portreeve of Okehampton in 1480, 1488 and 1509, and perhaps also as reeve of Lydford in 1485-6. This man survived into Henry VIII’s reign, and was still alive in 1527: C1/302/10-12; E.H. Young, Okehampton Parish Hist. 18, 63, 70; SC6/HenVII/1079, rot. 17; Devon RO, Okehampton bor. recs., 3248A-0/11/126, 127, 130-2, 138, 142.